well i can tell you right now why.

you are retreiving category and sub category and the same resultset and your data is show as example.
Category Sub_Categor
Network CCNA
Network CCNP
Programming C#
Programming VB

and when you pass that to the datalist is going to embed the data as show above. and what you need is
Network CCNA
CCNP
Programming C#
VB
now are you doing that because somebody can select multiple sub_category at the same time?

ok, i do not know if this is the best solution but it work.

I test this try to replace your statement in values, notice the event OnItemDataBound that makes the trick.
aspx

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<table>
        <asp:DataList ID="DataList1" runat="server" OnItemDataBound="bounditem">
        
        <ItemTemplate>
        <tr><td>
            <asp:CheckBox ID="chkCategory" runat="server" Text='<% #DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "OPTION_FNCTN").ToString() %>' /></td><td>
            <asp:CheckBoxList ID="ckhSubCategory" runat="server"></asp:CheckBoxList></td></tr>
        </ItemTemplate>
      
        </asp:DataList>
        </table>

<table> <asp:DataList ID="DataList1" runat="server" OnItemDataBound="bounditem"> <ItemTemplate> <tr><td> <asp:CheckBox ID="chkCategory" runat="server" Text='<% #DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "OPTION_FNCTN").ToString() %>' /></td><td> <asp:CheckBoxList ID="ckhSubCategory" runat="server"></asp:CheckBoxList></td></tr> </ItemTemplate> </asp:DataList> </table>

Now in the onload page i just generate the first checkbox which is the category one. notice in the select statement the function DISTINCT.

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protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            string st = "SELECT distinct OPTION_FNCTN FROM MENUOPTS_T WHERE (OPTION_FNCTN <> '') ORDER BY OPTION_FNCTN";
            DataSet ds = new DataSet();
            SqlDataAdapter adap = new SqlDataAdapter(st, MyConn);
            MyConn.Open();
            adap.Fill(ds);
            MyConn.Close();
            DataList1.DataSource = ds;
            DataList1.DataBind();
        }

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { string st = "SELECT distinct OPTION_FNCTN FROM MENUOPTS_T WHERE (OPTION_FNCTN <> '') ORDER BY OPTION_FNCTN"; DataSet ds = new DataSet(); SqlDataAdapter adap = new SqlDataAdapter(st, MyConn); MyConn.Open(); adap.Fill(ds); MyConn.Close(); DataList1.DataSource = ds; DataList1.DataBind(); }

now i create another function while the datalist is bounded this is the function.

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 protected void bounditem(object sender, DataListItemEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Item || e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.AlternatingItem)
            {
                string stGet = "SELECT OPTION_DESC FROM MENUOPTS_T WHERE (OPTION_FNCTN = '"+((CheckBox)e.Item.FindControl("chkCategory")).Text+"')";
                DataSet dsGet = new DataSet();
                SqlDataAdapter adapGet = new SqlDataAdapter(stGet, MyConn);
                MyConn.Open();
                adapGet.Fill(dsGet);
                MyConn.Close();
                ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataSource = dsGet;
                ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataTextField = "OPTION_DESC";
                ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataValueField = "OPTION_DESC";
                ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataBind();
            }
        }

protected void bounditem(object sender, DataListItemEventArgs e) { if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Item || e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.AlternatingItem) { string stGet = "SELECT OPTION_DESC FROM MENUOPTS_T WHERE (OPTION_FNCTN = '"+((CheckBox)e.Item.FindControl("chkCategory")).Text+"')"; DataSet dsGet = new DataSet(); SqlDataAdapter adapGet = new SqlDataAdapter(stGet, MyConn); MyConn.Open(); adapGet.Fill(dsGet); MyConn.Close(); ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataSource = dsGet; ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataTextField = "OPTION_DESC"; ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataValueField = "OPTION_DESC"; ((CheckBoxList)e.Item.FindControl("chkSubCategory")).DataBind(); } }

i bet you there are a few ways to do this but, this is the first one that comes to my mind.

Regards